In 2019 our income will go down with DH doing less hours and me doing less at my second job. I also want to focus more on my health this year and on life outside of work and we need to spend some time and money on work around the house.

2019 Goals

Mortgage: reduce mortgage balance by $35,000
Emergency Fund: $2000
Superannuation: $420,000

Weight: 70kgs
Exercise: 4 days a week
1001 books list: 12 books

Declutter house
Clean out & replant garden beds front & back of house
Replace insulation in the roof
Paint inside house
Retaining walls front garden
Retaining walls back garden
Finish fencing
Paving under pergola
Ceiling fans in bedrooms and family room

We’ve been working really hard the last two weeks on decluttering the house and I’d estimate we’ve got rid of 30 – 40% of what we own. Thats why I haven’t been online much at all. We were ruthless in getting rid of things and I didn’t let emotional attachments get in the way this time. So much stuff that we have accumulated over 30 years living here, raising a family, is now gone. I want to just keep things that we need now, to only have things in the house that we use or that make me smile. It feels very freeing to have less.

I have spent more than I planned to this month though. We got rid of a lot of old linen and towels as they were pretty worn out. It would be over 10 years since I’ve bought any. So I bought three sheet sets and four new towels each after cleaning out the linen cupboards. The cupboards have gone from overflowing out the doors to neatly folded linen on just two shelves.

In the kitchen we cleaned out our pantry/storeroom and all the kitchen cupboards. I gave away appliances, dishes and pans that I don’t use much and tossed out a lot of things we had stored but rarely use like old jars, storage containers, kids school projects, certificates, art, toys etc. The kitchen now has one corner cupboard that is completely empty and in the storeroom/pantry the only thing on the floor is the freezer and the esky. Before this we could hardly get into the storeroom because of the mess! After the cleanout I bought some new kitchen items to replace some of our old things so I spend a bit there but again, its years since we spent anything.

In DS’s room we had also tended to just dump things in there since he moved out. So we decluttering in there as well and got rid of old computers, bookcases, papers from school,  more of mums things, clothes and belongings that had been mums. There are still some boxes of books stored there but the room is now clean and useable as a guest room.

I also am almost finished decluttering and organising my sewing room, which I am so pleased with! I have several projects on the go now and am looking forward to spending more time sewing, crotcheting and quilting this year and am back working on some charity projects.

So from today I’m just going back to my flylady routines to deal with the last of the excess ‘stuff’ and keep the house clean. When I went back to work last year I just got slammed with work and didn’t do any of my hobbies last year – that is not going to happen again and having the house decluttered will really help me find some time for myself.

I’m back at my second job tomorrow. I’ve started back on my low carb diet with intermittent fasting and walking again and the weight is coming off. So far 2019 is going well!